New kitchen: must haves or what to avoid?

suki1964

rosie383 wrote: »

Great info about the tiles Suki (and blame autocorrect for the misspelling of your name above!).
What worktop do you have Suki? I saw my friend's one he other day. It's laminate walnut look. Absolutely lovely and still looks like new two years on.

I've just checked the receipts , the tiles were £12.96 a box, then we got trade discount on top. The expense was the grout and adhesive, couldn't get that on trade

Also hunted out the granite price, 6 metres of 600 wide, £1100 templated and fitted with the two cut outs

Whole cost of kitchen, that was everything from the steels needed, the knocking through, the patio doors and windows, plumbing, electrics, fixtures and fittings, decorating, new table and chairs = £9k

And 4 years down the line it's looking as new and I'm still loving it

MallyGirl

Wednesday2000 wrote: »

Oh, I was about to start a thread of my own, but can I be cheeky and ask here what people think about washer dryers?

I've never had one, but was thinking of buying one and hopefully donating my old washing machine and tumble dryer to a charity shop. Are they worth it or is having separate machines better in any way?

When we looked into these the dryer function would only take half the weight of the washer bit so you had to remove half of the load before drying. Technology may have moved on since then as it was a while ago.

june89

I'm a bit late to the cupboard conversation but will chime in that I HATE our pan drawers. We have two sets of them and due to the layout of our kitchen, it's the only place I can store plates and I find them really awkward. Give me a normal cupboard any day!

Other hates from this kitchen...
- Textured countertop. This is probably the thing I hate the most, it feels impossible to clean. I would rather deal with streaks on a shiny surface than this thing.
- Tall but shallow upper cupboards with only a single shelf in them. We've put loads of those wire shelves in to give us extra space.
- Built in wine racks. Again, we have two of them and we don't drink wine. Have used them to store smaller items (spices, etc) but it looks messy and would rather not.
- Blind corner cupboards. We've got three of them, two also have narrow doors. Completely useless, particularly the upper cabinet one. I don't even use the back half of them now.
- Narrow larder cupboard. Thought I would love this when we moved in, but I can't fit anything bulky through the door which is even narrower. It also has slatted shelves instead of solid, so you have to balance smaller things on them or use storage tubs. Think this used to be a broom cupboard, but can't even fit my bucket through the door either!
- Breakfast bar in the middle of the work zone. We don't use it as one because it's totally in the way so there's over three foot of dead space underneath that could have been cupboards.
- Sockets all clustered together on one side of the kitchen, when the logical place for the small appliances is on the other side.
- Massive window with only one tiny tilting pane in the corner, making it difficult to air the room quickly when required.
- Tiled floor. It's a north facing room so is freezing even in summer, and the grout is difficult to keep clean (especially when I spill things that stain everything like curry sauce) as someone already mentioned.
- No space for even a slimline dishwasher! Why the previous owner thought a big breakfast bar was necessary and a dishwasher wasn't, I'll never know. :rotfl:

ETA: Worst part is that it was put in only a few months before they sold, so it's illogical to rip it all out so soon. So making do for now, but I would love to just gut the whole thing and start again.

missbiggles1

I think washer dryers have their place where space is limited, in a small household or when you don't use the dryer function much. I used to have one and was happy with it as it let you do small loads going straight though from washing to drying, which suited me at the time.

If you don't fit into those categories then I'd opt for separate machines.

MallyGirl

We have a decent sized kitchen on a large house but the people who designed it only fitted a slimline dishwasher. It is better than no dishwasher but is really irritating when you have guests.

Our previous kitchen had the IKEA woodblock worktops - never again. Burns, stains, water ingress meant sanding and staining on a regular basis. We now have granite - or a composite that is like granite - and it is pretty sturdy stuff. We have still got a couple of chips in it but it can cope with a hot pan and is great for making pastry.

We have deep pan drawers and they are much easier to find things in than stacking on shelves.

We have a pull out bin drawer with 2 separate bins - recycling and land fill. Handy with dogs who would raid the free-standing bin we had before.

We have varnished wood floorboards wich are OK. The conservatory opens from the kitchen and has limestone with underfloor heating and that heats the kitchen enough.

We have sockets above the cupboards as we have a Sonos sound system round the house and there is an amp and 2 speakers up there.

june89

MallyGirl wrote: »

When we looked into these the dryer function would only take half the weight of the washer bit so you had to remove half of the load before drying. Technology may have moved on since then as it was a while ago.

The washer dryer we used to have was the same, and we never used the dryer function because of this. If I'm already hanging half the load, may as well hang it all out!

Did a quick check on JL and still seems to be the case, although the drying capacity is getting a little better on some models. Saw a few 8kg wash and 6kg dry machines which isn't too bad. I would still opt for separate machines if I had the space for both though.

ETA: One thing we had in a (rented) kitchen a few years ago that I would never want again is an integrated washing machine. I don't mind other appliances being integrated (although still prefer freestanding fridges too) but that one was such a pain due to the vibration of the machine and not worth it at all!

pineapple

I live out in the sticks and it's all electric. Kitchen due to be renovated/replaced and no cooker at present. Got a portable ceramic hob for temporary use. The problem is if you get a spill on it and don't tackle it that very second, it's a b*er to clean. In fact I have more or less given up and it just gets to look mankier and mankier. In the beginning I was obsessive about trying to keep it looking shiny and bright but I guess I just didn't have the staying power. I don't know if makes differ in how easy they are to clean?
The other thing is I can't set it at a low enough temperature for 'barely there' simmering. To achieve that I have to leave the pan lid a fraction off.
Plus - though it is quicker than an old fashioned solid hob cooker, there is still a warming up/cooling down issue. When almost finished I switch off completely and leave the food cooking on the residual heat. If you don't switch off completely, a fan kicks in as a safety cooling measure. Good if you have kids I suppose but a waste of expensive electricity for me.

pineapple

june89 wrote: »

Tiled floor. It's a north facing room so is freezing even in summer, and the grout is difficult to keep clean (especially when I spill things that stain everything like curry sauce) as someone already mentioned.

Swap you for my stone flags! :mad:

rosie383

Good info about the ceramic hob pineapple. It's induction that we are looking at though which is dead easy to clean as the surface is always cold so food doesn't bake on to it. And apparently the majority of people who don't like induction are those who tried them several years back. A bit like having a mobile phone a while back and a smartphone now. The technology has improved massively by all accounts and the modern ones are cheap and efficient. So I'm told!

Very interesting to hear about what you hate in your kitchen June. Having to stack plates in a pan drawer would drive me nuts too. But I am a convert to having more drawers than cupboards (for base units obviously) as you really can see easily what is in the whole thing. I really don't want to be having to be crawling into the back of cupboards any more looking for things, and only using the stuff at the front.

june89

pineapple wrote: »

Swap you for my stone flags! :mad:

I think my tiles are simulated flags, definitely have that rough slate-like texture to them but I don't think they're real stone. I don't know why the previous owners were afraid of anything smooth! :rotfl:

Rosie, I wouldn't mind the drawers as much if they were actually being used for pans. But the upper cabinets are too shallow to fit plates in, which is where I'd prefer to keep them. So that's definitely something to check when you're choosing your cupboards, I never even thought of it when we viewed here as I was always used to standard depth ones! :mad: